


The Devil Wears Savile Row

by obfuscatedheart



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Hannibal is Miranda Priestley, M/M, Slow Burn, Will is Andy, devil wears prada au, menswear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-05 18:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17329871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obfuscatedheart/pseuds/obfuscatedheart
Summary: Will Graham is desperate for a job as a journalist in London, unfortunately it means starting at the bottom. An agency lands him an interview at London’s most renowned menswear magazine: Mann as assistant to the feared and revered editor-in-chief Hannibal Lecter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started as me butting into a conversation on twitter, and I wanted to give this a go. It’s one of my favourite films and I studied fashion at uni.
> 
> Un-betaed so any mistakes are my own. Tags will be updated as we go along.

Will just about manages to squeeze himself into the crammed tube carriage with what feels like a thousand other commuters. When the doors close he leans back slightly to rest against the closed door. In his head he runs through the articles he had written and how they taught him

The tube grinds to a halt, and along with the rest of the carriage Will groans in frustration. “Sorry guys, just being held by a red light, should be on our way shortly,” comes the tinny announcements over the speakers

He falls into the trance he always tries to go into when on public transport, he makes space for other passengers as they get on and off until he reaches his next station. He doesn’t really have to think about the direction he is taking because the crowd of people has the same route in mind. 

Will is thankful that his next ride is only two stops, and sooner than he can imagine he is outside again, if it weren’t London he would take a deep breath to help clear the drowsiness. Looking around he notices that the area has far more high-rise buildings than he can remember from his days as a student. 

Checking his phone he starts walking to one building he is sure hadn’t been there before. At reception the staff give him odd looks when he mentions who he is there to see, he can sort of understand it too. He’s doesn’t look like he belongs in this office, but his agency had sent his resume across and he had a landed an interview. 

Will waits at the desk until he feels someone approach him. He turns around and is met with a man in a blaringly loud orange suit who after looking him up and down and smiles in a way that sets Will’s teeth on edge. 

“Graham I presume?” Will grimaces internally. The voice is steeped in spite and sounds just like all the privately educated students he had met at university. 

“Will is fine thanks.” He answers. 

“Right.” The man says dismissively. “Follow me.”

He is taken through the security gate and into the lift. “You know a hundred people would kill to work here. And to work for Hannibal.”

“Hannibal?” Will asks. 

The man turns on him. “You don’t know Hannibal? The editor-in-chief of Mann.”

Will shakes his head and the man sighs heavily. “Honestly I have no idea why the agency sent you at all. They clearly have a twisted sense of humour.”

They reach the highest storey and get out and Will is sure he has never seen so many people dressed up for the office. He sighs, knowing now that there is no way that he will get the job. 

“I’m Frederick, the first assistant, I was second assistant but the last first assistant was promoted to Italian Vogue as an editorial assistant.” 

Frederick pauses as he looks around the office and waves at someone. “That’s the kind of power Hannibal has. One year in this position and you can work at any magazine in the world.”

They reach a small anteroom with two desks. There was little else in that room, except a large closet behind one desk. 

A phone rings and Frederick answers it, “Hannibal Lecter’s office. What? Yes. Right away.”

A man enters the room. “No time Price. He’s on his way back.” 

Price gestures at Will. “Who’s that?”

“Agency sent them. Not worth the paper their CV was printed on. Obviously.”

“Right. I’ll go warn the others.” Price says, he turns towards the doors, opens one and shouts “Gird your loins!”

Will watches as the office begins to break out into a flurry of activity. Watching in disbelief as the staff begin to tidy their desks and clothes. There is frantic energy in the entire building and Will begins to dread the entry of this fabled man. 

Then the room falls silent and people begin to move with far more care. As if they’re trying to tiptoe around a sleeping predator. 

Frederick is looking through the notes on his desk before carrying a stack of magazines to the office just past the two desks. He returns and double takes when he sees Will, considering briefly before gesturing him to sit down. 

“Just wait there. And don’t say a single word. Don’t even look at him.” Frederick hisses at him. 

Perplexed Will sits down at the desk at the same moment as the door opens. A tall man walks in, a coat is draped over his shoulder which he promptly takes off and places it on the desk at which Will is sitting. 

“How hard is it to confirm appointments?”

“I know I’m sorry Hannibal, the chiropractor slipped a-“

“Details of your incompetence are unnecessary. Get those pocket squares. Make sure that Warren gets a seat. Fetch me a coffee from that place I visited that one day.” There isn’t a break in rapid fire instructions said in a slightly accented drawl. “Ring up Calvin Klein and get him to send that shirt and dear god it better not be maroon. Where are the proofs for the photos? Have Jimmy send up the latest version of that thing.”

Frederick steps to the door and is scribbling furiously in his notebook and nodding along. “Phone Demarchelier. And who is that?”

Frederick sighs, “that’s nobody. Well that’s someone the agency sent. I’ve already interviewed them, they’re no good.”

“We’ll see about. The last two you’ve sent me have been appalling. Barely lasted a week. Now I’ll be the judge this time. That’s all.”

Turning around Frederick gives Will an angry look, and motions for him to stand up. “Go on. Get in there.”

Will stands and Frederick rips his shoulder bag from him. “For god’s sake, leave this horrendous thing here.”

Flustered Will stumbles into the room and is able to see Hannibal in person properly for the first time. He is flicking through one of the magazines Frederick had placed on his desk. Will is a little surprised, the man was older than he had expected. When the agency had told him about the interview he had assumed that everyone at a magazine was in their twenties and early thirties. Instead Hannibal appears to be a little older than Will himself. The man is undeniably handsome, sharp cheekbones and a face that would look odd on other people but not on him. 

“Who are you?” Hannibal says after looking him over. 

“My name is Will Graham. Here is my resume.”

Hannibal regards it cooly before picking up another magazine. “Why are you here?”

“I came to London to become a journalist and it was this or Horse and Country.”

“So you don’t read Mann?”

“No.”

“And before today you had never heard of me?”

“No.”

“And you have no sense of style, nor sense of fashion.”

“I think that’s a matter of-“ 

Hannibal waves a finger and says, “no, no, that wasn’t a question.”

“You’re right. I don’t fit in here. I’m not glamorous nor young. But I’m smart, learn fast and work-“

He is interrupted by Price pushing past him. “Right, I’ve got the exclusive on Burberry for Redmayne.”

Will sighs, he knows a dismissal when he hears one. “Thank you for your time.” He says as he walks out of the room. 

He can hear Price talking as he leaves the room, “who is that sad little person? Are we doing a before and after piece I dont know about?”

Will takes his bag from where Frederick had thrown it on the floor, and heads outside. Leaving the badge at reception he is almost at the revolving door when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

When he turns around he’s surprised to see Frederick. “Come on, for some inexplicable reason he wants you.” The man says to him, he clearly doesn’t look pleased at the prospect, in fact Will can sense the obvious disdain the man has for him.


	2. Chapter 2

With a sense of relief Will heads home after he has a meeting with HR to sort out a few pieces of admin that would stop him from starting that day. With an agreement that he will be in at eight-thirty the next morning. On his way back to Balham he texts his group of friends and Molly and they arrange to meet for dinner.

Once he gets home to the flat, he realises that it’s barely noon, so he decides on looking through a few articles online about Hannibal. After an hour of research he realises that he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Judging from the number of appearances Hannibal seems to make in a year means that Will is sure that he will be busy over the year. 

One thing that he does find out that the reputation Hannibal seems to have in the wider writing and magazine world in London, three of his previous assistants now work for various magazines and the others appear to be working for newspapers. He decides there and then that he can do it, it’s only a year, and he really needs to get his career started.

Later Will meets his friends and Molly in the small italian restaurant in which Molly works, he settles at their usual table. They stay past the restaurant closing and being closed up. Wine has been flowing all evening, and they’re laughing about various stories from Brian’s current rotation at the hospital. 

Surprisingly apart from toasting him, there is little mention of his new role until Beverley starts. “Hannibal Lecter is an icon. He completely revolutionised the way the world saw menswear.”

“Okay, how is it that you know who he is? And I had no idea whatsoever?”

“What can I say, I care about these things, unlike some people.”

“But you don’t wear menswear most of the time.”

“That doesn’t make me blind.”

Will laughs along with her, and nods his head. “I suppose I am somewhat lacking in that department.”

“Somewhat? I’m still surprised that they let you through the door.” Brian says. “Hannibal Lecter has a reputation of only working with people who can dress themselves.”

“So you don’t think I’m qualified for the job then?” Will asks as he watches Molly who is chuckling quietly. 

“I wouldn’t say that exactly. You just don’t seem like the typical person who works there.”

“And you don’t seem like you would work in a hospital but here we are.”

Brian howls with laughter. “Beverley, you never said how the gallery was going.”

“You know how it is, plenty of browsers and not enough buyers but we manage.”

Will swirls the wine in his glass. “I think this is the first time in a while where we are all employed.”

Molly raises her glass, “a toast then: to jobs that pay the rent.”

They all laugh and echo her toast before downing their drinks. Will is glad that he had met up with his friends as they seem so normal in comparison to all of the people in the office.

***

A sharp ringing rips Will out of his sleep, and it’s only after looking at the bedside clock that he realises it’s his phone. The number doesn’t seem familiar but when he answers he recognises the voice immediately.

“You need to come in immediately. Hannibal has killed the jacket story and is pulling up the shoot from October. You need to come into the office right this second and pick up his coffee order on the way.”

When Will doesn’t answer Frederick continues. “You better write this down Will. You need to go to the coffee shop that is three doors down from the office. I want one non-foam latte with an extra shot and three americanos with milk. Searing hot. And I mean hot.”

The link goes dead and Will sighs heavily. Behind him Molly rolls over to him and sighs too. “You have to go in at this time?”

“Some sort of crisis. Although I dread to think what they would all be like in a real crises.”

“Well have fun.” Molly says, and she sounds half-asleep, not that Will can really blame her at all.

He grudgingly gets out of the warm bed and dresses in one of his favourite shirts that is soft as it’s worn in. Dressing in a hurry he heads out into the cold of the morning, and he is disappointed to see that the sun is only just rising. 

As it’s so much earlier than he would normally be up and about the journey into central London is relatively easy and quick. The coffee shop he also mercifully finds quickly, but it has begun to fill up with various people also buying their morning coffees. It feels like the minutes are just ticking away, and he realises that he may have been ruder to the barista than he would have liked.

As he hurries towards the office, his phone rings again. “What’s taking you so long?”

“I’m almost there.”

The phone goes dead again. Will supposes that everyone is too busy to say goodbye to anyone. 

Will arrives in the office and Frederick puts the phone down and takes one of the coffees off of him and says, “About bloody time. I hope you know this is a very difficult job for which you are totally wrong. And if you mess this up, my head is on the chopping block.”

Frederick gestures at Will’s coat, “now, hang that up. Don’t just fling it anywhere.”

Will watches in disbelief as Frederick disappears into Hannibal’s office with the coffees. He shakes himself slightly before hanging up his coat and sitting down at his desk.

Frederick appears back out of the room and says, “okay. First of all, you and I answer the phones. The phone must be answered every single time. Calls roll to voicemail and he gets very upset.”

Will begins pulling out the stationary from the drawer in his desk. “If I’m not here- Will. Will, you are chained to that desk.” Frederick sounds exasperated as if he has had this conversation often.

“Well, what if I need to-”

“What? No.” Frederick seems absolutely perplexed by the idea that Will would leave his desk to go to the toilet. “One time an assistant left the desk because she sliced her hand open with a letter opener, and Hannibal missed Tom Ford before he went on a 17 hour flight to Australia. She now works at TV Guide.”

As soon as Frederick stops talking the phone rings, before will can pick it up Frederick does, “Hannibal Lecter’s office. No he’s not available.” He makes some notes on his computer. “Yes, I will tell him you called…” he hangs up the phone. “Yet again.”

Will looks through the notepad on his desk, it’s branded with the logo of the magazine and little else. 

“Right. Remember, you and I have totally different jobs.” Frederick begins after a long moment. “I mean, you get coffee.” He scoffs loudly. “And you run errands. But I am in charge of his schedule, his appointments and expenses. And most importantly I will join him in Paris for fashion week. I get to wear tailored suits. I go to all the shows and all the parties. I meet all of the designers. It’s divine.”

Frederick sounds as if this is the only reason he is in the job still. Will doesn’t particularly see the appeal of being dressed up and touted around before going to a party with Frederick clones who are simpering at each other, vying for attention from various people they deem important. 

“Okay. Now stay here. I’m going to the art department with the Book.”

“The Book?”

Frederick approaches Will’s desk with a heavy coil bound book that has the logo on the front. “This is the Book.” he places it on the desk and begins to flip through the pages. “This is a mock-up of everything in the current edition. And we deliver it to Hannibal’s apartment every night and he ret-” Frederick pauses when Will begins leafing through and pushes his hands away. “Don’t touch it.”

Chastened Will pulls his fingers back and Frederick exasperatedly says, “he returns it in the morning with his notes.” he gathers the book back into his arms. “Now the second assistant is supposed to do this, but Hannibal is very private and does not like strangers in his house. So until he decides you’re not a total psycho, which I’m not yet convinced by either. I have the joyous task of waiting around for the Book.”

Frederick turns on his heels and the phone rings. “Oh Frederick what do I-”

“Deal with it.”

It rings again and after taking a deep breath Will answers, “Hello Mr Lecter’s office.”

“Is that Hannibal Lecter’s office?”

“Yes. That’s what I meant. Hannibal Lecter’s office.”

“Can I speak with him?”

“He‘s actually in a meeting right now. Can I take a message?”

“Yes, tell him Armani called about the shoot.”

“Of course I will, can you spell Armani for me please?”

The line goes dead. 

Jimmy arrives in the office and is carrying a pair of shoes and a tie. 

“I guessed a nine and a half.”

Will takes them off him “That’s very nice of you, but I don’t think I need these. Hannibal hired me. He knows what I look like.”

“Do you?”

Will chuckles and tries to pass the shoes back to Jimmy but he doesn’t take them, so Will places them on the desk.

“Frederick?” The name is called softly from the other room and he doesn’t do anything as he is not Frederick. “Frederick?” the name is said a little louder.

“He means you.”

Will stands up from his desk and rushes into the room. In the room there are several people talking about some sort of bias cut with Hannibal. 

“This isn’t what I asked for. I couldn’t have been clearer. There you are Frederick. How many times do I have to scream your name?”

“Actually my name is Will.” the two other people look at Will with shock, and even Hannibal quirks an eyebrow slightly. “My name is Will. William but everyone calls me Will.”

Hannibal smiles, and for a moment Will has the distinct feeling a predator is in the room. “I need 10 or 15 shirts from Tommy Hilfiger.”

“What kind of shirts did you-”

“Please bore someone else with your questions. And make sure we have Studio 52 for eight am tomorrow. Remind Jocelyn I need to see a few of those satchels that Burberry are doing in the pony. And then tell Simone I’ll take James if Thomas isn’t available. Did Lindbergh confirm?”

“Did Lindbergh-” he stumbles over his words. Will has no idea who Lindbergh is.

“Lindbergh. Did he- get him on the phone.”

Will turns to leave, but turns back when Hannibal says, “oh and Frederick.”

He catches Will’s eyes for long moments before looking him up and, lingering on his neck and then his shoes. The look feels pointed and Will flushes. 

Rushing out of the office he grabs the pair of shoes. 

“Did Lindbergh confirm?” Is called from the office. 

Before he is able to look up who Lindbergh might be a hand picks up the phone on the desk and dials a number.

“This is Hannibal Lecter’s office calling.” Will recognises the voice with dismay, it’s Frederick. “I’ve got Peter.” 

The shout almost deafens Will, but he knows that it will likely to get Hannibal off his back.

“What did he want from you?” Frederick says.

“He wanted some shirts.”

“What kind of shirts?”

“I tried to ask-“

Frederick interrupts Will with a sigh. “You never ask Hannibal anything. What else did he want?”

“There was something about Studio 52, a pony and a Thomas not a James.”

Frederick pinches the bridge of his nose, “okay you pick up the shirts, and I’ll sort out everything here.”

“Me?”

“Oh I’m sorry did you have some prior commitment? An ugly shirt convention to go to?” Frederick laughs at his own apparent joke.

“Now go, take the car, he’ll take you to the right office.” Frederick says to Will as he stands. 

Will nods frantically and pulls on his overcoat before exiting the office. Frederick calls after him, “and hurry back.”

***

Luckily for Will when he reaches Tommy Hilfiger, which he had been surprised to find out was a brand and not just one person, the shirts are already packaged up to be collected. The person on the reception had looked him up and down with disdain. Will is beginning to tire of the looks he receives from people.

As soon as he steps outside the building his phone rings, he picks up and is immediately in receipt of barked instructions from Frederick, “Hannibal wants you to pick up some scarves he’s ordered from Hugo Boss. Also he’s left his notes at a restaurant, pick those up. Hannibal’s out at lunch with Bailey and he’ll want coffee when he get back.”

“What was the second thing?” Will asks. Instead the line goes dead again. He wonders if everyone he works with is resistant to finishing a call correctly. His phone chimes again and there is a location which appears to be a restaurant. He shows the location to the driver once he reaches the car. 

There a few texts he receives during the drive to first a shop and then the restaurant, all of them from Frederick telling him to hurry up, but luckily no further instructions are forthcoming.

When he arrives back at the office, Frederick rips the coffees from his hands as well as the bag with the scarves. “Finally. I’m desperate to go.”

“What you haven’t been at all since I left?”

“Now I haven’t. I told you, that phone is manned at all times.” Frederick takes the coffees and places them in Hannibal’s empty office. 

“Now be ready, the run-through starts at one o’clock. Everyone is panicked so the phones will be ringing off the hook.”

“The run through?”

“Yes. Editors bring in options for the shoot and Hannibal chooses. He chooses every single thing in every single issues. Run-throughs are a huge deal. I don’t know why you don’t know that, Will.”

A slim figure appears in the room and glances Will up and down. “You were right.”

“I told you didn’t I?” Frederick answers with a grin.

“I just didn’t think it’d really be like that.” the man says.

Frederick laughs before turning to Will and saying, “right the first assistant gets 35 minutes for lunch and the second 30. So I’ll see you in 35.”

They leave the office and Will is left alone with only the desk for company. There is a brief pause before Hannibal appears in the office and throws his coat onto Will’s desk, the man doesn’t even look towards Will. 

When Frederick returns, he motions for Will to leave who does. He knows there is a canteen in the building and as he has so little time he heads towards it. When he reaches the canteen he bumps into Price who is putting together a salad. Will instead goes straight for the mac and cheese.

“Do you know how many saturated fats are in that?” Price asks him.

“I’m not that bothered.”

“Well you will be in ten years time.”

Will just shrugs and begins to eat from the plate as he waits in the line to pay, part of the sauce dribbles onto his shirt and he dabs at the stain.

“Oh don’t worry about it, I’m sure you have plenty of poly-blend where that came from.”

“Okay. You think my clothes are hideous. I get it. But I’m not going to be in fashion forever so I don’t see the point of changing everything about myself just because I have this job.”

Price sighs. “Yes. that’s really what this multi-billion pound industry is all about anyway, isn’t it? Inner beauty.”

His phone chimes and he glances at it, before answering with a hint of panic. “Hello? Right.” he hangs up and turns to Will. “Come on.” 

Price takes Will’s plate throwing it in the rubbish and says, “Hannibal’s pushed up the run-through up half an hour.”

Will frowns at the man and says, “and?”

“He’s always 15 minutes early.”

“Which means?”

“You’re already late.”

“Shit.” Will curses as he follows the retreating figure of Price. On the way to the highest floor in the lift a woman steps in.

“Issue going well?” she asks Price.

“Oh yes. Our best September ever.”

“Great. I heard Hannibal killed the jacket shoot, and brought up the Venice shoot.” Jimmy nods. “What’s that costing me?”

“About 300,000.” Will is surprised at the sum of money.

“Must have been some lousy jackets.”

Will sniggers and the woman turns to him, she stretches a hand out to Will. “Kade Purnell.”

Jimmy says, “oh, I’m sorry. This is Will Graham, Hannibal’s new assistant.”

“Congratulations young man. A million people would kill for that job.”

Will only smiles in response before turning to Jimmy who says, “chairman of --. Kade Purnell. You know what they say? Tiny person, huge ego.”

When they reach the office, Will can hear Hannibal berating the people that are already inside. “No. I’ve seen all this before.”

“Anderson is trying to reinvent the double-breasted jacket so actually it’s--”

“Where are all the other outfits?”

Hannibal’s office is filled with rails of clothing and a model standing in the centre with clothes half on, and around him is Hannibal and a few of the editors that Will had briefly seen in the office.

“We have some right here.” one of the editors says as she pulls something out and begins to drape it over the model. “And I think it can be very interesting with--”

Will doesn’t hear the rest as Jimmy whispers to him, “stand, watch and learn.”

“No. No, I just, it’s baffling to me. Why is it so impossible to put together a decent run-through? You people have had hours and hours to prepare. It’s just confusing to me.”

Will begins making notes in his notebook that he keeps in his back-pocket, he knows that the editors will have been blindsided by the choice to move everything forward effectively 45 minutes.

“Where are the advertisers?”

“We have some piece from All-saints.”

“We need more, don’t we?”

Hannibal begins to look through the rails in more details and pulls out a white shirt with a pair of leopard print trousers.

“What do you think of-?” he asks Jimmy.

“Yeah. I mean give me a leopard print peg leg and I’m on board.”

“Do you think it’s too much like--”

“The Prada from July? I thought that but not with the right accessories. Like this jacket.”

Jimmy pulls out a checked jacket and drapes it over the outfit, which is held against the model. 

“Where are the belts for this outfit? Why is no one ready?”

One of the editors runs over to the table which is covered in an assortment of belts, ties and other things and holds up two that look almost identical.

“Here. It’s a tough call. They’re so different.”

Will can’t help it, he chuckles. Making a note of the exchange in his book. Then he feels the temperature drop in the room.

“Something funny?”

“No. Nothing. Well, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. But i’m still learning about this stuff and so--.”

“This stuff? oh okay I see you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your wardrobe and pick out, I don’t know, that horrible flannel shirt for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care what you put on your back.”

Hannibal takes the belt with the larger buckle and ties it through the loops on the trousers.

“But what you don’t know is that shirt is not just flannel, it’s not check, it’s not gingham. It’s actually Madras plaid. And you’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2015 Prada featured Madras plaid in their collection. And then think it was Walter van Beirendonck wasn't it who showed patchwork Madras shirts? I think we need a different shirt here.”

“Mmm.” Price says and goes to one of the rails and pulls out a tan coloured shirt to which Hannibal nods his agreement.

“And then Madras quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic bargain shop, where you, no doubt, fished it out of some sale bin. However that Madras represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing a shirt that was selected for you by the people in this room, from a pile of stuff.”

There are no words that Will has to answer to this, he glances out of the room and catches Frederick’s eye who gives him a smug and pleased look. When he examines the feelings it seems a little like he has disappointed Hannibal. And that should not make him as miserable as it does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The outfit Price and Hannibal pull together is this one:  Outfit number 34
> 
> https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2019-menswear/martine-rose/slideshow/collection#34 
> 
> Also Madras plaid didn’t actually appear in Prada and van Beirendonck of 2015 but they did both feature plaid  
> Madras plaid is from Madras (now Chennai in India and is particular as it has the same pattern on both the front and reverse of the fabric)


End file.
